Louisiana's law is Chapter 1 of Title 44 of the Revised Statutes, and it opens by making access a duty rather than a favour: section 44:31 states that providing access to public records is a responsibility and duty of the custodian's appointive or elective office and of their employees, gives any person of the age of majority the right to inspect, copy or reproduce any public record, gives any person the right to obtain a copy, and puts the burden of proving that a record is not subject to inspection on the custodian. The reach is broad, with public body defined to include every branch, department, agency, board, commission, district and political subdivision, their committees and task forces, any other instrumentality of state, parish or municipal government, and public or quasi-public nonprofit corporations designated to perform a governmental or proprietary function.
Finding the right custodian is a statutory duty too. Section 44:33.1 requires each public body with a custodian to make that person's contact information available in a way that lets a member of the public quickly determine who a request should go to, including by publishing it on the internet, and to use reasonable means to warn the public that what they send a public body may itself become a public record. For Louisiana records held locally, see the Louisiana parish pages.
- Immediately, if it is not in use: a record not in active use at the time of the application must be presented immediately to the person asking.
- Three days if it is in use: the custodian must certify that in writing and fix a day and hour within three business days for inspection.
- Five days to raise a doubt: where the custodian questions whether something is a public record, a written determination citing the legal basis is due within five business days.
- A hundred dollars a day: a court may impose civil penalties of up to that amount for each business day a custodian unreasonably or arbitrarily fails to respond, paid by the public body.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Louisiana's own systems: the Louisiana Public Records Law, Title 44 Chapter 1, section 44:31, the right to examine records, section 44:32, the duty to permit examination and the fee rules, section 44:33, the availability of records, section 44:35, enforcement, the Division of Administration records request page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Three different clocks, and which one applies
Louisiana does not run a single response period. The starting rule in section 44:33(B)(1) is immediacy: where the record applied for is immediately available, because it is not in active use at the time of the application, it must be immediately presented to the authorised person applying for it. Where it is not immediately available because it is in active use, the custodian must promptly certify that in writing and, in that certificate, fix a day and hour within three days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays, for the inspection to happen.
A separate clock applies where the custodian doubts the status of the material rather than its availability: under section 44:32(D), where a request is made and the custodian raises a question as to whether the thing is a public record, the custodian must within five days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, notify the requester in writing of the determination and the reasons, and that notification must refer to the basis in law on which the record or any part of it is said to be exempt.
The third clock is the one that matters for enforcement: under section 44:35 the right to sue arises either on refusal or on the passage of five business days from an in person, written or electronic request without any written determination or any estimate of the time reasonably necessary for collecting, segregating, redacting, examining or reviewing the records. An audit, incidentally, is no answer at all, since the statute says expressly that records being audited is never a reason to refuse inspection except while they are in active use by the auditor.
What a custodian may and may not ask you
Section 44:32(A)(1) is unusually protective of the requester. The custodian must present any public record to any person of the age of majority who asks, and may make no inquiry of that person except as to age and identification, though a register may have to be signed. The custodian may not review, examine or scrutinise any copy, photograph or memoranda in the requester's possession, which protects the notes taken during an inspection.
The custodian must extend all reasonable comfort and facility for the full exercise of the right, while keeping whatever vigilance is needed to stop a record being altered during examination. Examinations happen in regular office hours unless the custodian authorises otherwise, in which case the staff who supervise are entitled to reasonable compensation, paid by the public body out of funds the requester provides in advance. One question is permitted: where the custodian cannot ascertain from the initial request what records are being sought, an inquiry about specificity may be made.
And one refusal is permitted on volume alone, under subsection A(2), where the custodian reasonably determines the request would substantially disrupt required government operations, but only after reasonable attempts to narrow or specify the request with the requester, so a disruption refusal with no prior conversation is defective.
The money, and the things that must be free
Three rules decide a Louisiana bill. First, no fee may be charged to any person to examine or review public records, and no fee may be charged for the examination or review needed to determine whether a record is subject to disclosure, except as a court may decide. Inspection, in other words, is free, and so is the agency's own exemption analysis. Second, for records other than state agency records, the custodian has a duty to provide copies unless the requester has not paid after being told the amount in advance or has an outstanding balance from an earlier request, and a custodian who chooses to charge must establish a reasonable fee schedule and post it where the public can readily find it, with advance payment permitted and free or reduced copies allowed for indigent citizens of the state.
Third, state agency copies are charged under the uniform fee schedule the commissioner of administration adopts under R.S. 39:241 or as otherwise fixed by law, again with free or reduced copies for indigent citizens and for people whose use is limited to a public purpose, such as a hearing before a regulatory commission. Two special cases are worth knowing: a public postsecondary institution must furnish copies free of charge to a student produced media outlet affiliated with it and funded by institutional or student fees, and clerks of court, along with the Orleans recorder of mortgages, register of conveyances and custodian of notarial records, may set their own reasonable uniform written reproduction procedures.
Mandamus, tried by preference
A person refused access, or left without a determination or a time estimate for five business days, may bring proceedings for a writ of mandamus, injunctive or declaratory relief, with attorney fees, costs and damages, in the district court for the parish where the custodian's office is located. The court has jurisdiction to enjoin the custodian from withholding or to order production of records improperly withheld, decides the matter de novo with the burden on the custodian to sustain their action, may view the documents in camera before deciding, and may punish noncompliance with its order as contempt.
Procedurally the Act puts records cases to the front of the queue: any suit brought in a court of original jurisdiction to enforce the chapter is tried by preference and in a summary manner, and any appellate court must place it on its preferential docket, hear it without delay and decide as soon as practicable. That combination of a five day trigger and a preference docket is why Louisiana records disputes are resolved faster than in most states.
What a Louisiana court can award
A requester who prevails is awarded reasonable attorney fees and other costs of litigation, and one who prevails in part may be awarded fees or an appropriate portion at the court's discretion. The same award follows where a public body or official sues a person over their request and the person wins, which discourages pre emptive litigation against requesters. Where the court finds the custodian arbitrarily or capriciously withheld the record, or unreasonably or arbitrarily failed to respond as section 44:32 requires, it may award any actual damages proven, and for a failure to respond it may add civil penalties of up to one hundred dollars for each day of silence, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.
Two qualifications complete the picture. No person is personally liable for any of these penalties, damages, fees or costs, the public body being responsible in every case, which removes the argument that an official would be ruined by an award. And an attorney fee award may not exceed the amounts the attorney general approves for the employment of outside counsel.
Reading a Louisiana response
The questions to ask are set by which clock applies. Was the record in active use, and if it was, did a written certificate arrive fixing a day and hour within three business days. If the custodian is questioning whether the material is public at all, did a written determination arrive within five business days naming the legal basis of the exemption rather than asserting one. If nothing came within five business days, neither a determination nor an estimate of the time needed, the right to sue has already accrued, and the penalty clock may have started.
On money, check that nothing has been billed for inspection or for the exemption review, and that any copying charge matches a schedule the body has actually published. And where a refusal rests on disruption to operations, ask what attempt was made to narrow the request, because the statute requires that conversation before access can be refused on that ground.
Questions about public records requests in Louisiana
Related Louisiana records
Louisiana's other public records guides on this site are the Louisiana background check guide for the State Police criminal history service, the Louisiana court records guide for the clerks of court, the Louisiana arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Louisiana parish pages for every parish office.